Sell you a Bridge chapter 88 (Patreon)

Gotham Academy August 23rd 2010 7:00 AM EDT

The  few days after out visit to Kent's tower had been pretty average for  the most part. We'd going back into the dungeon, and my new power had  not been the coup down there I had expected. Because of all the lava  there was plenty of shadows, but the lack of mobility meant my oil slick  was out, and the demons were made of magma mostly. The toad spitters I  could just spike with and I could still kill things with my King's Sword  of Haste and my movement skills, but the major issue was the size.

The  fucking caves were massive, literal rivers of fucking lava covering  dozens of miles of territory. It seemed like the damn Labyrinth was a  pyramid shape, because each level got larger by a large amount. The bump  in size seemed to be even more absurd once you passed into a new biome,  and where my shadow powers had let us race through the catacombs the  caves were going to take a while. Today however I was at school, and I  was exhausted, because I'd been skipping sleep to talk to Artemis on the  phone lately to try to calm her down after she'd dumped her boyfriend.

It  sucked. I got the reasoning, but Artemis loved him. They just sort of  fit together, and leaving him had torn her up something fierce. What was  worse was she couldn't tell him why she was doing it, so she'd just  blamed it on him never being there for her and how he wasn't around.  Which while technically valid wasn't how she felt anyway, so when he  literally begged her to reconsider and promised to make more time for  her she couldn't agree even though I knew she wanted to.

She  was a mess. Not physically because her weird elven racial bonus to  charisma made that impossible, but she was angry and snapping at  everyone, even Zee, and the two of them were crazy close since the  ritual. She was coming to school, but she quit the track team because it  reminded her of Wally, and while my best friend wasn't the whimpering  damsel type she was very much a girl who took her bad moods out on  others and I was beginning to worry she might stab someone at the  academy. Especially since someone on the track team had let it slip the  two of them were broken up after he heard it from a friend who raced at  Central City High.

Despite  that and despite the anger and vitriol we were getting Zee and I took  turns calling her every other night to try to let her know we were  there. She was extremely unpleasant about it, but she didn't hang up and  always answered so we figured it must be doing some good. This is all  to explain of course, why I was less than surprised when I got grabbed  as I was walking into school and dragged out behind the building by a  redheaded shell of a man desperate to talk to me. Of course I was a  stealth genius so he couldn't have snuck up on me if he tried, but still  I'd been expecting this.

Wally  looked like shit. He had bags under his eyes, his clothes were stained  and torn in places, his hair was a mess and he was jittery as hell. He  met my eyes for all of a second before his roaming gaze flicked off to  who knows where and his voice was rough and croaking. "You look  different." Then he shrugged. "Or maybe not, I don't know. We need to  talk. I need your help." I sighed and opened my mouth, but he grabbed my  jacket pulling me off balance to stare wildly into my eyes. "Please!  Don't say no. Just hear me out."

I  sighed. I wasn't even mad about the manhandling because the guy looked  like death warmed over. I thought it over for a minute but nodded.  "Fine. Talk fast, I have class and I'm already late. Plus Artemis will  flip if she hears I was out here talking to you." He visibly flinched  when I said that and I sighed again and put a hand on his shoulder.  "Look Wally, I'm sorry man. I like you, you care about her and you're  good for her, but if she doesn't think it's going to work you know as  well as I do no one can talk her out of it. You'll find somebody else,  just let it go man. This isn't anyone's fault, it just isn't meant to  be."

Wally  snarled and let me go, pacing back and forth like a caged animal and  running his hands through his hair. After finding out he was Kid Flash  Wally's over the top personality made a lot more sense. His metabolism  was nuts, which meant his hormone production was through the roof. Wally  literally felt things more intensely than other people, and going by  his aura, he was spiraling. Hard. Not in an angry way, if I'd seen him  as a threat to Artemis I would have handled it, but in a much worse way.

I don't know how I had missed the  fact that Wally was so all over the place emotionally, but sitting there  watching his aura swing through varying levels of grief and despair I  became genuinely worried he might actually hurt himself. Why wasn't the  Flash dealing with this? Why hadn't he taken Wally to a doctor? Was it  because he was an adult when he got his powers? Was the mix of puberty  and extreme hormone production creating a unique situation? I wasn't a  medical professional but I was pretty sure Wally was exhibiting the  symptoms of a panic attack.

He  started talking as he paced back and forth. "I just...this isn't right  man. I haven't been around I get that, and I'm sorry but she won't let  me fix it! I told her I would do better but she just said it didn't  matter, that I missed my chance." He turned to me imploringly, literal  tears glistening in his eyes. "I just need you to talk to her, man. Tell  her that I'm sorry and I'll do better. I promise. I just...I used to  hit on girls all the time you know?I was just looking for someone who  would fit, who would be right for me. Then I found Artemis and it was  like I found that missing piece you know? She's just...she's like the  other half of me. Please Morgan. Please help me?"

I  mentally cursed the Flash for missing this. This was not new. Hiding  this from your girlfriend was one thing but the way his aura was  fluctuating made it impossible that he'd kept this a secret from his  parents. Granted I knew that trigger events could make depressive  episodes worse, but if this was really caused by his powers (and I had  no proof that it was, just a suspicion, I wasn't a doctor) it would have  been happening since he started puberty at least. But I couldn't just  leave him like this. Artemis really loved him, and if she saw him this  way she would be heartbroken. This wasn't supposed to be a big deal,  people break up sure it sucked but if she'd known he would take it this  badly she'd have found another way.

I  sighed and gave him a weak smile. "Yeah man, I'll talk to her.  Just...take a breath ok? Things will be fine. I'll talk to her for you  and we can sort this out." He just nodded, breathing heavily like he'd  just run a marathon, and all the energy kind of went out of him and he  slumped against the wall behind him. That was good. I had zero clue how  to deal with a Bipolar Episode. I grabbed his shoulder, pulling him  along. "Here man come sit down, you look like you rushed over here, that  had to be exhausting." Which was true, from the state of his clothes I  suspected he might've run here from Central. Which was...far. Even with  super speed.

He  just slumped down onto the bench and nodded. "Yeah, you're right.  Sorry. I didn't mean to get all worked up. I don't get spun up like that  often. Can we maybe not tell Artemis about this? She's never seen me  have an episode before. They aren't common. I'm on medication and I'm  usually fine but I just...got a little carried away." Ah, that explained  it. I was definitely going to tell her, but it's not like she didn't  already know plenty about him without his knowledge. one more secret  wouldn't be the end of the world.

I  actually felt a bit bad about lying to him when I smiled and said.  "Sure, we can keep it between us. Is this something you've been dealing  with for a long time? You have ADHD right?" I knew that could get pretty severe and it actually explained Wally's behaivor pretty well  honestly. If he was on meds and treating it though it certainly made  sense that none of us had noticed. Hell the only reason I even knew much  about it was that I'd been memorizing mental health books because I was  pretty sure I was on the autism spectrum.

Not  far on the spectrum, just like aspergers, but some of the symptoms fit  me really well. Mental health care in Gotham was awful, as evidenced by  the state of Arkham, so puzzling it out on my own was the only reason I  even knew myself. Wally looked... resigned. "Yeah, I was diagnosed a few  years ago. I usually manage it with meds well enough, hell most of my  friends don't even know about it. Not a lot of people want to think  about something being wrong with their friends you know? They just  ignore it. Chalk it up to me being a spaz. Sorry again I just grabbed  you like that."

I  waved it off. "It's fine. I know how close you two are, I get that  people freak out when they're losing a loved one. i can only talk to her  though, is this going to be an issue if she decides not to get back  together with you? Because disorder or not I don't much like the whole  emotional blackmail angle. Not to mention that relationship built on a  foundation of threats are hardly a good idea." It was a mean thing to  ask, but I had to ask it. I wasn't convincing my best friend to date a  guy whose reaction to them breaking up was going to be harmful to  himself or others.

His  eyes widened a bit and he held up his hands. "No! No it isn't like that  I swear. Like I said I don't want you to tell her. I haven't had an  episode in like a year, and it isn't just about her. I recently kind of  cut ties with an old friend and it's been kind of eating at me. There's  been a lot of stuff. Honestly the meds might not be enough, I should  probably talk to my Uncle's friend, she's a shrink." He smirked a  little. "She's super hot too, so that's a bonus." Then his expression  became serious again. "I just...I feel a connection with her. I want a  chance to talk to her about things but she's dodging me. Id we talk and  she decides it's not right for her I'll back off. I can be dense but I'm  not an asshole."I  believed him, especially since his aura was pulsing  with conviction.

Wally didn't want  to lose Artemis, but he wasn't going to make that her problem if she  wanted to end things. Which was shitty, because if he had wanted to do  that it would have been a good reason not to help him, instead I had to  actually go talk to Artemis about this, and she wasn't going to take it  well. She wasn't going to tell him her identity for a myriad of reasons,  but if he could lie about his identity so could she, and she really  cared about him. I sighed and nodded again. "Like I said, I'll talk to  her. Go home Wally. Get some sleep and shower. I'll have her call you or  do it myself if she won't." He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled  gratefully. Man, life had been so much easier when I was a shut in.